Garage door latch



'Oct. 1, 1940. c. H. ASHTON GARAGE DOOR LATCH Filed Aug. 24, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 1, 1940'. c. H. ASHTON GARAGE DOOR LATCH Filed Aug. 24, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 D III V MWWIMM H m as w Oct. 1, 1940. c. H. ASHTON 2,216,335

' GARAGE DOOR LATCH Filed Aug. 24, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 .IIIHII 7Z Maw am Patented Oct. 1, 1940 UNITED s'ra'ras PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

My invention relates to garage door latches or latches for kindred purposes. Some aspects of my invention are not concerned with whether the latch be of the type which automatically engages upon closing the door, or of the type which requires manual movement when closed; other aspects of my invention are peculiar to these types. Also some aspects of my invention are concerned with a latch which is adapted to be locked while others are not concerned with whether the latch be locked or unlocked.

The objects of my invention include the provision of some or all of the following features in a door latch for garages and the like: one of a pair of doors may be bolted and the other locked to it; optionally, one of the doors may be bolted and locked by theuse of the same hasp leaving the other door openable; the latch may be more or less permanently held in inoperative position so that either door may be closed without latching; the hardware constituting the latch may be packaged in a package whose over-all dimension is but a small fraction of the height of the door; an inexpensive provision is made for adjusting the latchto fit doors of varying height without the necessity of cutting or drilling any parts; a minimum of latch parts are exposed when the doors are shut and locked; the hasp of the latch is arranged to cover and protect the other working parts against tampering; in the event of working parts of the latch sticking due to rust, misalignment or bending, the leverage for manuel operation can readily be increased over that normally used; the latch is readily installed; the latch is inexpensive yet rugged; and the door bearing the latch will automatically be latched upon closing the door. Further objects, features and advantages of my invention are set forth in the following descrip tion of a specific embodiment thereof and illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is an outside front elevation of a pair of garage doors embodying the latch of my in- Vention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. .1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section similar to Fig. 2, but on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the hasp portion of the latch, being a fragment of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale with portions of the hasp broken away to reveal the construction therewithin;

Fig. 5 is a plan section through the hasp and shaft of the latch taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

l M Fig. 6 is a rear elevationof the central portion of the latch mechanism corresponding to Fig. 4, but looking from the rear side;

Fig; 7 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 'l-l of Fig. 1 showing in transverse elevation the auxiliary staple for the hasp;

Fig. 8 is a rear elevation of the overlapping ends of the two rods which form in effect the lower bolt of the latch showing the adjustable connection therebetween, and may be considered as taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 91s a plan section taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

In the drawings I have shown my latch as applied to a pair of garage doors l5 and i6 hinged to the door frame at their outer vertical edges. 5 My latch is carried by the left door l5, In general, upper and lower latch bolts IT and I8 are reciprocally mounted at the inside of the left door l5 and adapted to be withdrawn by swinging the hasp l9, which is exposed at the front 20 of the door l5 and cooperates with a staple 20 carried on the outside of the right door it.

As best shown in Figs. and 5, the hasp I9 is hinged at its left end, by means of a pintle 2i, to the left end of an inner leaf 22, preferably of similar stock. The leaf 22 is fixed to the end of a stub shaft 23 by means of a bar-like diametrical projection M formed at the outer end of the shaft 23, which projects through a complementary slot in the leaf 22 and is peened thereover. For the purpose of manufacture and assembly, the shaft 23, leaf 22 and hasp l9 constitute a prefabricated unit.

A hole 25 for the shaft 23 is formed through the stile of the left door I5. Inner and outer annular escutcheon plates 26 and 21 border the hole 25 and are mounted by machine screws 28 countersunk in the plate 26, passing through the stile and threaded into tapped holes in the outer plate 21. The central openings in the escutcheon plates 26 and 21 form bearings for the shaft 23 which is passed therethrough. The inwardly protruding end of the shaft 23 carries one or more flats 29. A hub 3i] is slipped over the inner end of the shaft and its bore is contoured to complement the flat or flats 29 as shown in Fig. 6. The hub 30 is locked to the shaft 2i by a set screw 3 I. This in turn holds the shaft 23 against withdrawal, once it is assembled, by tampering from the outside of the door.

The hub 30 carries diametrically opposed ears 32 for operatively engaging the upper and lower bolts I7 and H), which will now be described.

The lower end of the lach bolt l8 passes through a guide 33 inwhich it is reciprocably mounted, and at its lower end extends into a hole 34 in a floor plate 35. The upper end of the lower latch bolt [6, as shown in Fig. 6, is offset and journaled by the aid of a cotter pin in one of the ears 32. The upper latch bolt I! is similarly pivoted at its lower end in the other ear 32, and its upper end engages in a hole 34 in the top plate 35. The upper end of the latch bolt I1 is guided by passing through holes in the inwardly directed ends 36 of a guide strap 31 carried on the inside of the door. A coil spring 38 interposed between lower end 36 of the guide strap 3! and a washer 39 fixed on the bolt tends to urge the bolt I! upwardly and, by rotating the hub 30 counterclockwise (Fig. 6) urge the lower bolt downwardly. The latch bolts [1 and I8 may be formed from single lengths of rod. But for two reasons I prefer to make each of them of two rods arranged with adjustable overlapping ends; one is to cut down the overlength of the bolts in packaging for shipment; the other is to provide a convenient adjustment for effective length of the bolts, so that the rods do not have to be cut on the job, and so further operating adjustments may be made from time to time in case the door sags.

In Figs. 8 and 9 I have illustrated the lower latch bolt 18 as formed from an upper rod 180. and a lower rod l8b with an adjustable interconnection therebetween. It will be understood that substantially the same arrangement is here illustrated as applied to the upper latch bolt IT.

The overlapped ends of the rods lBa and [8b are locked together by means of a clamp 40. This may be formed from a pair of identical plates 4| each having two semi-cylindrical grooves, so that when the two plates are put together with their grooves facing and. are secured together by spot welding or riveting they form, in effect, a twin tube for the reception of the respective overlapped ends of the rods I81; and Nib. A set of holes a to is, inclusive, are stamped in the plates 4| so that when the two plates are fixed together, the holes are diametrically opposite. Similar holes A to G are drilled through the rods near their overlapped ends. By means of cotter pins 42 and 43 which pass through pairs of holes in the clamp 46 and through the holes in the rods, the rods l8a and [8b are fixed together to serve in lieu of a single rod to constitute the latch bolt l8.

Attention is invited to the arrangement and spacing of the holes in the clamp 40 and in the rods. Only a few widely spaced holes need be drilled in the rods, and yet an adjustment for the effective length of the latch bolt to within an eighth of an inch may be had through a variation of two feet or so. Assuming the holes a and f are an inch and a half apart, they and the other holes b, c, d and e are spaced a quarter of an inch apart (except that a hole between the holes and d may be omitted). The holes g, h, i, 7' and k on the right hand side (Fig. 8) are spaced three-eighths of an inch apart with their terminal holes horizontally aligned with the holes a and f. The terminal hole A and the other hole B. on one of the rods may be ten inches apart, while the holes C, D, E, F and G on the other rod may be spaced two and a half inches apart. Some position can then be found for the clamp and the cotter pins 42 and 43 for every multiple of an eighth of an inch of overlap of the rods [8a and H82; throughout a range of about twenty inches. And if that range should not be enough, the range can be increased ten inches by the simple expedient of providing a third hole in the rod |8b ten inches down from the hole B.

This arrangement gives a more positive coupling of the overlapped ends of the rods 18a and Hlb than would a friction clamp or set screws, and yet it avoids the expense of drilling a large number of holes in the rods or threading long reaches of the rods.

It will be understood that the upper latch bolt l1 may similarly be formed by two adjustable overlapped rods. The forward portion of the floor plate 35 is preferably formed as an oblique apron 50. And somewhat similarly the top plate 35' has an inclined forward portion 50'. When the door is closed and the hasp I9 is not held against rotation, the ends of the latch bolts will ride up the surfaces 50 and 50 axially shifting the latch bolts against the spring 38 and rotating the shaft 23 until the ends of the latch bolts reach the holes 34 in the plates, when the rods will snap into the holes under the pressure of the spring 38, rocking the shaft 23 back to its normal position. The floor plate 35 may conveniently carry vertical flanges serving as stops for the bottom corners of the two doors. The top plates 35 may carry similar flanges, or wooden stop strips 52 may be employed.

The hasp 19 may be secured upon its staple 20 by a keeper 53, or it may be locked by a padlock upon the staple 26. Sometimes it is desirable to keep one of the doors locked to prevent removal of an automobile, but still permit free use of the other door for access to the garage. This may be effected by swinging the hasp l9 about its pintle 2| through 180 to cooperate with an auxiliary staple 54 mounted by a plate 55 on the left door (Fig. 1). A padlock may then be slipped on the staple 54 to prevent rocking of the shaft 23 and thereby lock the left door.

The lower half of the auxiliary staple plate 55 may be extended into a forwardly offset flange 56 disposed at a radius to the shaft 23. When the hasp I9 is swung back to its left position, it may optionally be rotated to catch beneath the flange 56. When that is done the shaft 23 is held in a sufficiently rocked position to withdraw the latch bolts and permit either door to be opened or closed at will, without the left door latching itself when closed.

When the hasp I9 is in the position of Fig. 1 and padlocked to the staple 20, it precludes opening of the left door because the shaft 23 cannot be turned to withdraw the latch bolts. It prevents opening the right door because the hasp overlies the free margin of the right door. The hasp l9 overlies the peened-over end of the shaft projection 24 to protect it against attempts to remove the leaf 22 from the shaft. Both the hasp l9 and the hasp leaf 22 overlie the ends of the screws 28 and prevent their removal from without. The shaft 23 together with the hasp and its leaf 22 cannot be pulled forwardly from the door because the shaft is locked to the hub 30 by the set screw 3!, which may enter a counterbore in the flat 29.

Should the turning of the shaft 23 towithdraw the latch bolt become difficult because of rusting, jamming, misalignment or jamming of the parts, additional leverage may readily be applied to the rocking of the shaft by the simple expedient of swinging the hasp l 9 back about its pintle toward its leftmost position to give additional leverage. For ordinary use, however, I contemplate that the shaft may be rocked to withdraw the latch bolts by merely swinging the hasp [9 out far enough to clear the staple 20.

When the hasp I9 is swung out, either door maybe opened independently of the other unless an astragal' be used. An astragal is not'necessary to lock the right door shut when the left door is locked, because the hasp l9 and the keeper 53 or padlock will do that; the astragal may be desirable for its Weatherstripping effect.

It will thus be seen that by my invention I have provided. a garage door latch which is fairly tamperproof when locked; which provides for various permutations of latching, locking and freedom for the two doors; which is easy of application without the necessity of performing many structural operations upon the latch hard,- ware tofit it to various doors; which is easily adjustable to different heights of doors or to compensate for siding; which is simple and economical to manufacture; and which may be merchandised in packages of relatively small over-all dimensions.

I claim:

1..A door latch for a pair of doors hinged at their opposite lateral edges, comprising upper and lower latch bolts mounted for vertical movement on one door near its free edge, the upper end of the lower bolt and the lower end of the upper bolt being pivotally connected, the upper and lower latch bolts each consisting of a pair of rods having a combined length greater than the distance from the pivotal connection to the upper and. lower edges of the door respectively, sleeves to secure each pair of rods together, said sleeves having a plurality of apertures relatively close together, and said rods having a plurality of apertures spaced relatively far apart.

Door latch mechanism comprising latch bolts to be mounted on the back side of a door and extending in opposite directions from a common reciprocating member connected to their respective near ends, each latch bolt being formed from two' overlapping rod-like sections, and means for adjustably interconnecting the overlapped ends of the two sections to provide various effective lengths for the bolt, said connecting means comprising a unitary pair of sleeves for receiving the respective sections, one of the sleeves having several longitudinally spaced apart holes whereby a pin may pass through any one of the holes and a hole in the received rod section to anchor the section to the sleeve, and the other sleeve has several longitudinally spaced holes spaced at intervals diflerent from the spacing of the holes in the one sleeve and. a pin extending through any of the holes in the other sleeve and through a hole in the received rod section.

3. Door latch mechanism according to claim 2 wherein one of the rod sections has a plurality of pin receiving holes longitudinally spaced therealong at intervals, which intervals are between one and a half and two times the distance between the first and last holes in the set of holes in the sleeve which receives the section.

4. A door latch for a pair of doors hinged at their opposite lateral edges, comprising oppositely extending bolts mounted on the back side of one door near its free edge for opposite movement into and out of latching engagement with keepers, each of said bolts being formed of adjustably secured-together overlapping rods, a shaft passing through the one door, crank arms on the inner end of the shaft connected to the near ends of the bolts whereby the bolts are withdrawn by rotation of the shaft, a two-leaf hasp, the under leaf of which is fixed to the outer end of the shaft and the outer leaf of which is hinged about a vertical to the end of the under leaf on the side of the shaft laterally remote from the free edge of the one door and normally overlies the under leaf and the end of the shaft and protrudes beyond the edge of the door to overlie the free lateral margin of the other door, and means on the other door cooperating with the protruding end of the outer leaf to lock the other door thereto and to lock the hasp, and thereby the shaft, against rotation.

CHARLES H. ASHTON. 

